Abyssinian Roller
Coracias abyssinicus Hermann, 1783
Photo © Wikipedia
STATUS
Africa. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Species not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
NOT PROVEN
0). c. 1857 Clyde Near Glasgow, Lanarkshire, two, no date.
(Bree, 1866; Yarrell, 1871-85; Smart, 1886; McWilliam, 1936).
[Seebohm, 1883-85; Hartert et al., 1912].
History Bree (1866 (1): 157-158) in a footnote, says: 'I may take this opportunity of observing that Mr. Small, a bird-stuffer and naturalist, of George Street, Edinburgh, has in his possession a male specimen of the Abyssinian Roller (Coracias abyssinica) which was killed near Glasgow a year or two ago. Mr. Small had the bird in the flesh, and preserved the skin himself. He says the female was also obtained a short time after, but forty miles distant from where the male was killed. Mr. Small is a well-known naturalist, and I have not the slightest doubt that the statement is in every point correct; but as I am not aware that this bird, which is distinguished by the two long processes at the end of the outer tail quills, has ever been observed in Europe, and as there is a possibility of the two birds having escaped from confinement, I do not feel justified in introducing it into this work. I notice it here as its place would have been that preceding the bird I have just described.'
Alfred Newton (1876-82 (2): 434, 4th ed.) in Yarrell's British Birds, in a footnote, says: 'Dr. Bree in 1859 (B. Europe, I. p. 157) mentioned a male of the Abyssinian Roller, then in the possession of Mr. Small of Edinburgh, "killed near Glasgow a year or two ago", adding that a "female was also obtained a short time after, but forty miles distant".
Seebohm (1884 (2): 331) says: 'An example of a male of this species was presented to the Paisley Museum by Mr. Small (the father of the well-known bird-stuffer in Edinburgh), who stated that it was shot near Glasgow about the year 1857, and brought to him in the flesh. He also stated that the female was obtained, a short time afterwards, about forty miles from the locality where the male was shot. It is a resident throughout Africa south of the Desert and in Southern Arabia. It has never been known to occur in any part of continental Europe; and it is difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that the bird in the Paisley Museum had escaped from confinement.'
Smart (1886: 46) says: 'Professor Newton records the occurrence and says: "It is a very unlikely bird to have escaped from confinement since Rollers are not often imported alive into this Country". Mr. Seebohm says "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Paisley bird had escaped from confinement". In Dr. Bree's Birds of Europe is the account of the occurrence. It was shot near Glasgow about 1856, and taken in the flesh to Mr. Small (whose son was a bird stuffer in Edinburgh) he presented it to the Paisley Museum; and stated that the female was also shot at a place about 40 miles distant from Glasgow. The fact that no money was made out of the occurrence seems to point to its being authentic. And if the female were in company with the male it would suggest the impossibility of their being "escapes".'
McWilliam (1936: 151) under 'Appendix' says: 'Two specimens of this bird are said to have been killed near Glasgow about 1857 (Bree's Birds of Europe, Vol. I. p. 157).'
